Various fluoride compounds have been suggested and used in compositions used in the oral cavity, such as toothpaste, mouthwash or solutions for professional application, to inhibit dental caries (see, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,029,191 and 4,078,053). One of the purposes of the use of fluoride compounds, such as ammonium, sodium and potassium fluoride, has been to form fluorapatite. Formation of fluorapatite has been achieved by adding orthophosphate to slightly acidic fluoride preparations (see Brudevold et al., Archs Oral Biol., 8: 167-177, 1963), using monofluorophosphate preparations (see Ericsson, Acta Odont Scand., 21: 341-358, 1963), or by increasing the time of application of treatment, and by other techniques. However, the monofluorophosphate application leads to extremely limited fluorapatite formation (see Gron and Caslavsky, Caries Res., 15: 90-97, 1981), while application of fluoride preparations for a long period of time often is not practical.
Past work on the effect of surface-active agents on enamel fluoride interactions has been limited to consideration of the types of agents which are incorporated into dentifrices. Thus, Volker et al. (J. Dent Res., 22: 228, 1943) found that fluoride was readily adsorbed onto powdered enamel from fluoride solutions containing alkyl sulfate without surface-active agents, although the adsorption was not quite so great as that found in aqueous solutions, alone. Massler (J. Dent. Res., 32: 703, 1953) found some reduction in the protection against acid dissolution imparted to enamel from topical fluoride application, if the treatment solution contained detergents. While detergents are present in a number of fluoride rinses (Accepted Dental Therapeutics, 1977) and toothpaste compositions, the reason has not been therapeutic, but rather to keep flavoring oils and other nonsoluble or dispersed additives in suspension.